CN112165990B

CN112165990B - Wash-free grain manufacturing device

Info

Publication number: CN112165990B
Application number: CN201980033803.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 梶原一信; 波光勉; 但马史朗
Original assignee: Satake Corp
Current assignee: Satake Corp
Priority date: 2018-05-22
Filing date: 2019-04-24
Publication date: 2022-09-27
Anticipated expiration: 2039-04-24
Also published as: TW202003109A; CN112165990A; KR20210011392A; TWI799581B; KR102539818B1; WO2019225279A1

Abstract

The invention provides a wash-free grain manufacturing device, which comprises: a refining and pounding part which mixes/stirs the grains with water and performs refining and pounding in the water; a centrifugal dewatering part for dewatering the grain and water supplied from the refining part through a dewatering screw arranged in the dewatering cylinder; and a conditioning/drying unit for refining the grain supplied from the centrifugal dewatering unit into wash-free grain by drying air. The refining section (3) is configured to include: a tamping shaft rotatably supported in the tamping drum; a grain feeding screw rod, the pivot of which is supported on the precise tamping shaft; a stirring rotor, the pivot of which is supported on the precise tamping shaft and is fixed with a stirring blade; and a limiting component, which is pivotally supported on the refining and pounding shaft and limits the grain flowing out from the refining and pounding cylinder.

Description

Wash-free grain manufacturing device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a wash-free grain manufacturing apparatus for processing grains (wash-free rice in the case of rice) that can be cooked by adding water without washing with water.

Background

Conventionally, patent documents 1 and 2 disclose apparatuses for producing such wash-free cereal grains.

The wash-free grain manufacturing apparatus disclosed in patent document 1 is provided with a hand-lock type coupling mechanism (clamp ring) at a joint portion for coupling a refining section and a centrifugal dewatering section, and the refining section and the centrifugal dewatering section are formed so as to be easily disassembled, and a supply section for connecting the centrifugal dewatering section separated from the refining section and a drying pipe branched from an air exhaust path of the refining section are connected, so that maintenance can be easily performed.

Thus, in the washing/drying process after the processing of the wash-free grains (wash-free rice) is finished, the hand-lock type clamping ring is loosened by hand to easily separate the refining part and the centrifugal dewatering part, and then the drying pipe is connected to the supply side of the centrifugal dewatering part, so that the dehumidifying and drying air used in the conditioning part can be supplied to the inside of the centrifugal dewatering part. Then, the inside can be dried by supplying the dehumidified and dried air to the centrifugal dehydration unit cleaned/cleaned with water, and thus, there is an operation and effect that maintenance can be easily performed.

The wash-free rice production apparatus disclosed in patent document 2 includes a refining section, a centrifugal dewatering section, a conditioning section for producing wash-free rice by dehumidifying and drying air, and a dehumidifying and drying section for supplying air dehumidified and dried to the conditioning section, and is characterized in that the conditioning section and the dehumidifying and drying section are housed and arranged in parallel in a substantially sealed housing so that the dehumidified and dried air generated in the dehumidifying and drying section is directly ejected to rice grains in the conditioning section.

Thus, the dehumidification and drying unit housed in the rack sucks in outside air from outside the apparatus, dehumidifies and dries the air to generate conditioned air, and the conditioned air subjected to dehumidification and drying is directly ejected to rice grains in the conditioned unit.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2004-344798

Patent document 2: japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2004-330086

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

However, in patent document 1, when washing is insufficient after decomposition, there is a problem that grains or high-concentration rice washing water remains/adheres in the refining section or the centrifugal dewatering section, and bacteria are propagated or spoiled due to these deposits or residues, which causes a problem of a sanitary problem in food processing.

In patent document 2, the main part of the thermal refining section is composed of a mesh screen rotated by the rotation of a motor and a suction fan for generating a suction air downward from above the mesh screen. Consequently, the rice grains supplied from the centrifugal dewatering section to the conditioning section spread over the screen and are dried by sucking only the dehumidifying drying air in one direction from above the screen to below the screen, and therefore, the direction of the wind is one direction only, and the rice grains are dried only on one side of the screen, and therefore, the side not receiving the wind is difficult to dry, and uneven drying occurs.

The technical problem of the present invention is to provide a clean grain manufacturing apparatus capable of manufacturing clean grains by solving the above problems.

More specifically, in view of the above problems, a technical object of the present invention is to provide a non-wash grain manufacturing apparatus which is excellent in hygiene and in which a residue is less likely to be generated in a mashing part.

In view of the above problems, it is a technical object of the present invention to provide a clean grain manufacturing apparatus that can uniformly supply dry air to grains and manufacture clean grains of good quality.

Means for solving the problems

One aspect of the present invention that is excellent in hygiene is a wash-free grain manufacturing apparatus comprising: a refining and pounding part which mixes/stirs the grains with water and performs refining and pounding in the water; a centrifugal dewatering part for dewatering the grain and water supplied from the refining part through a dewatering screw arranged in the dewatering cylinder; and a conditioning/drying unit for refining the grain supplied from the centrifugal dewatering unit into wash-free grain by drying air, wherein,

the refining section includes: a tamping shaft rotatably supported in the tamping drum; a grain feeding screw rod, the pivot of which is supported on the precise tamping shaft; a stirring rotor, the pivot of which is supported on the precise tamping shaft and is fixed with a stirring blade; and a restricting member pivotally supported by the mashing shaft and restricting grains from flowing out of the mashing drum.

According to this aspect, the refining unit includes: a tamping shaft rotatably supported in the tamping drum; a grain feeding screw rod, the pivot of which is supported on the precise tamping shaft; a stirring rotor to which a stirring blade is fixed and which is pivotally supported by the refining shaft; and a restricting member pivotally supported at a distal end portion of the mashing shaft and restricting outflow of the grains from the mashing cylinder, so that the grains are mashed in water while being restricted from flowing out from the mashing cylinder by the restricting plate, and thus the mashing cylinder is always filled with the grains, and the washing-free rice-making apparatus is excellent in sanitation and is less likely to have residual attached matters.

In another aspect, the regulating member is a flange-like member, and an end edge of the flange-like member pivotally supported by the grinding shaft reduces a gap between the end edge and an inner diameter of the grinding cylinder to regulate outflow of grains from the grinding cylinder.

Therefore, when the regulating plate is pivotally supported at the front end of the mashing shaft and the gap between the edge of the regulating plate and the inner diameter of the mashing cylinder is reduced to regulate the outflow of grains from the mashing cylinder, the mashing part and the centrifugal dewatering part can be continuously and directly connected without using a receiving hopper as a separate component, thereby achieving an advantage of downsizing the machine body.

Especially when the grain is rice, when the gap between the edge of the limiting plate and the inner diameter of the fine mashing cylinder is set to be within 3-15 mm of the grain flowing out, the rice can be prevented from blocking, and the fine mashing can be carried out in water while the flowing out of the fine rice from the fine mashing cylinder is limited.

In another aspect, the grain-feeding hopper includes a grain-feeding opening opened in the mashing cylinder on a starting end side of the mashing cylinder, and a grain-feeding hopper for feeding grains into the grain-feeding opening, and the grain-feeding hopper includes an inclined chute for feeding grains in an aligned state from a tangential direction of an outer peripheral edge of the mashing cylinder.

According to this aspect, the grain feeding hopper is provided with the grain feeding opening for feeding the grains into the grain feeding opening, and the grain feeding hopper is provided with the inclined chute for feeding the grains in an aligned state from the tangential direction of the outer periphery of the mashing cylinder.

Another scheme is characterized in that a water supply nozzle is fixedly arranged at the lower end of the inclined chute.

According to this further aspect, since the water supply nozzle is fixedly provided at the lower end of the inclined chute, the pressure of water due to water addition can be reduced by the force of the grain flowing down, and there is an advantage that the spray can be prevented.

In another aspect, the water supply nozzle is a wide opening having a width dimension substantially equal to a width dimension of the inclined chute in the width direction.

According to this aspect, since the wide opening has a width dimension substantially equal to the width dimension of the inclined chute, even when the grains flow at once while being aligned in the width direction of the inclined chute, the quality of the grains in the water refining can be stabilized by uniformly adding water in the width direction of the inclined chute.

One aspect of the present invention for producing high-quality wash-free grains employs the following technical means, namely, a wash-free grain production apparatus comprising: a pounding part for mixing/stirring the grains with water to perform pounding in the water; a centrifugal dewatering part for dewatering the grain supplied from the refining part through a dewatering screw rod arranged in the dewatering barrel; and a conditioning/drying unit for refining the grain supplied from the centrifugal dewatering unit into wash-free grain by drying air, wherein,

the centrifugal dewatering part and the conditioning/drying part are communicated with each other through a downflow duct having an arc-shaped longitudinal section, and a scraping blade is pivotally supported at the lower end of the centrifugal dewatering part, and the scraping blade causes the dehydrated rice grains to collide with the inner surface of the arc-shaped downflow duct and send the rice grains to the conditioning/drying part.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the centrifugal dewatering part and the conditioning/drying part are communicated with each other via a down-flow duct having an arc-shaped longitudinal section, and a scraping blade is pivotally supported at a lower end of the centrifugal dewatering part and causes the dehydrated rice grains to collide with an inner surface of the arc-shaped down-flow duct and be fed into the conditioning/drying part, so that the rice grains can be scraped from the centrifugal dewatering part and the rice grains can collide with an arc-shaped bent part of the inner surface of the down-flow duct, whereby the rice grains can be scattered and diffused in four directions inside the down-flow duct and supplied to the conditioning/drying part. As a result, since the rice grains are fed into the conditioning/drying section without being agglomerated, uniform drying can be performed, and high-quality non-wash cereals can be produced.

Another aspect is the conditioning/drying unit including: a vibrating frame which is provided with a screen mesh which enables the rice grains to roll and be exposed to hot air at the same time; an elastic member capable of vibrationally supporting the vibration frame; a vibration motor for micro-vibrating the whole vibration frame; and a hot air supply fan for supplying hot air to the vibration frame.

Therefore, as another embodiment, when the conditioning and drying unit includes a vibrating frame having a screen for exposing the rice grains to hot air while rolling, an elastic member for vibratably supporting the vibrating frame, a vibration motor for micro-vibrating the entire vibrating frame, and a hot air supply fan for supplying hot air to the vibrating frame, the rice grains are rolled on the screen by the vibrating frame while supplying the drying air, and therefore, not only one side of the rice grains but also both sides of the rice grains are dried by the drying air, and there is no fear of uneven drying.

Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the screen cloth placed under tension on the vibrating frame is provided with a plurality of screen cloths placed under tension in sequence from the supply side toward the discharge side of the vibrating frame, and a stepped portion is provided in the vicinity of a boundary between the plurality of screen cloths.

Further, in another aspect, the screens stretched over the vibrating frame are sequentially stretched from the supply side to the discharge side of the vibrating frame, and the stepped portions are provided near the boundaries of the screens, so that rice grains can be effectively rolled when transferred from one screen to the other, and therefore, not only one side of rice grains but also both sides of rice grains can be dried by the drying air, and the problem of uneven drying is reduced.

In another aspect, a partition wall is provided in an inner cavity of the vibrating frame in a longitudinal direction, and two air tunnels, i.e., a first air tunnel and a second air tunnel, are formed by the partition wall, the first screen and the second screen are located above one of the first air tunnels, and the third screen is located above the other of the second air tunnels.

According to another aspect, a partition wall is provided in the longitudinal direction in the inner cavity of the vibrating frame, and two air tunnels, i.e., a first air tunnel and a second air tunnel, are formed by the partition wall, the first screen and the second screen are located above one of the first air tunnels, and the third screen is located above the other second air tunnel, so that the drying speed can be increased when the moisture adhering to the rice grains is high in the initial stage of drying, the drying speed can be reduced when the moisture adhering to the rice grains is low in the final stage of drying, the rise in the valley temperature of the rice grains can be suppressed, and the occurrence of cracks on the surface of the rice grains due to over-drying can be suppressed.

Another aspect is characterized in that a baffle for adjusting air volume is provided at a lower portion of the first air tunnel and a lower portion of the second air tunnel, respectively.

According to another aspect, when a baffle for adjusting the air volume is provided at each of the lower portion of the first wind tunnel and the lower portion of the second wind tunnel, the air volume of the dry air can be adjusted for each of the first wind tunnel and the second wind tunnel.

Effects of the invention

The present invention can provide a no-clean grain manufacturing apparatus capable of manufacturing no-clean cereals in order to solve the above problems.

More specifically, the present invention can provide a wash-free grain production apparatus which is excellent in hygiene and in which the residue is less likely to be formed in the refining section.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a clean grain manufacturing apparatus capable of uniformly supplying dry air to grains and manufacturing clean grains with good quality.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of a device for producing disposable grains according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing the overall structure of the wash-free grain production apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing a refining section and a centrifugal dewatering section.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view ((a) in fig. 4) and a partially broken perspective view ((B) in fig. 4) of the starting end side of the mashing drum (near the rice grain loading hopper) of the mashing part.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of fig. 3 taken along line a-a.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the overall structure of the wash-free grain production apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing the overall configuration of the wash-free grain production apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the connection portion between the centrifugal dewatering portion and the conditioning/drying portion.

Fig. 9 is a side view between the centrifugal dewatering unit and the conditioning/drying unit.

Fig. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an internal structure of the quenching and tempering/drying section.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described together with the drawings.

First, an embodiment of a wash-free grain manufacturing apparatus in which residue is not easily generated in the mashing part and which is excellent in hygiene will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall structure of a device for producing wash-free cereal grains according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view.

In the present embodiment, rice (rice) in grains is described as an example. In fig. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes the entire wash-free grain manufacturing apparatus, and the main parts include a mashing unit 3 mounted on a frame 2 and mixing/stirring grains (polished rice) with water to perform mashing in the water, a grain supply device 4 supplying the grains to the mashing unit 3, a centrifugal dewatering unit 5 performing centrifugal dewatering of the grains discharged from the mashing unit 3, and a conditioning/drying unit 6 conditioning and drying the grains from the centrifugal dewatering unit 5.

The refining section 3 includes: a tamping shaft 8 rotatably supported and horizontally arranged in the horizontal cylindrical tamping drum 7; a grain feeding screw 9 pivotally supported on the refining shaft 8; a stirring rotor 11 to which a plurality of stirring blades 10 are fixed and which is pivotally supported by the grinding shaft 8; and a restricting member 12 pivotally supported by the mashing shaft 8 and restricting grain from flowing out from the end of the mashing drum 7. The regulating member 12 is preferably a flange-like member, and may be configured as follows: the end edge of the regulating member 12 pivotally supported by the refining shaft 8 is narrowed in a gap with the inner diameter of the refining cylinder 7 to regulate the outflow of grains from the refining cylinder 7.

A driving pulley 13 for driving rotation is pivotally supported at the rear end of the grinding shaft 8, and a motor 14 for driving the driving shaft 8 in rotation is mounted above the grinding part 3. A transmission belt 16 is wound between the motor pulley 15 of the motor 14 and the drive pulley 13 of the grinding shaft 8, and the rotational force of the motor 14 is transmitted to the grinding shaft 8.

The centrifugal dewatering unit 5 includes: a vertical type dewatering drum 18, a part of which is formed as a perforated wall 17; a dewatering shaft 19 rotatably supported in the dewatering drum 18; and a dewatering screw 20 pivotally supported on the dewatering shaft 19. A drain cover 21 and a drain pipe 22 are provided around the porous wall 17 of the dewatering cylinder 18, and the water after washing is discharged from the porous wall 17 by a centrifugal force accompanying the rotation of the dewatering screw 20 and a centrifugal force accompanying the rotation of the dewatering cylinder 18.

A motor 23 having a plurality of output shafts for rotating the dewatering shaft 19 and the dewatering drum 18 is installed at a side of the centrifugal dewatering unit 5. A driving pulley 24 for driving the rotation of the dewatering shaft 19 is provided at one end of the dewatering shaft 19, and a pulley groove 25 is provided on the circumferential surface of the dewatering drum 18 near the center in the axial direction.

That is, the power transmission belt 27 is wound around the driving pulley 24 and the first motor pulley 26 of the motor 23 to transmit the rotational force of the first motor pulley 26 to the dehydrating shaft 19, and the power transmission belt 29 is wound around the pulley groove 25 and the second motor pulley 28 of the motor 23 to transmit the rotational force of the second motor pulley 28 to the dehydrating drum 18.

A scraping blade 30 for feeding grains (rice grains) into the conditioning/drying section 6 is pivotally supported at the lower end of the dewatering shaft 19 of the centrifugal dewatering section 5, and the rice grains can be fed into the conditioning/drying section 6 while being dispersed. The centrifugal dewatering section 5 and the conditioning/drying section 6 are connected by a downflow duct 31 having a gentle arc-like longitudinal section, and the centrifugal dewatering section and the conditioning/drying section 6 interact with the scraping blade 30 to feed the dehydrated rice grains to the conditioning/drying section 6 while diffusing the rice grains.

The conditioning/drying section 6 includes: a vibrating frame 35 in which first, second, and

third screens

32, 33, and 34 for exposing rice grains to hot air while rolling are provided; an elastic member 36 for supporting the vibrating frame 35 and the

screens

32, 33, and 34 in a suspended manner; a vibration motor 37 for micro-vibrating the entire vibration frame 35; a hot air supply fan 38 having a heater mounted therein; an exhaust duct 39 for exhausting the air passing through the

screens

32, 33, and 34 to the outside of the apparatus; and a fine grain pipe 40 for discharging the conditioned and dried rice grains to the outside of the apparatus.

A grain inlet 41 is provided on the starting end side 7a of the mashing cylinder of the mashing part 3. Further, a grain feed hopper 42 (see fig. 1, 4 a, 4B) slightly shifted toward the outer peripheral side is disposed so that grains can be fed from the tangential direction of the outer peripheral edge 7g of the starting end side 7a of the mashing cylinder. The grain charging hopper 42 is provided with an inclined chute 43 having a width of, for example, 120mm and a length of about 150mm, and a water supply nozzle 44 is fixed to a lower end of the inclined chute 43. Thus, when grains are fed from the inclined chute 43 into the grain inlet 41, the grains can be fed from the outer peripheral edge 7g in a state aligned in the tangential direction. In addition, the grain from the inclined chute 43 bottom end to the refining cylinder 7 in the middle of the water supply nozzle 44 is added, so the grain flow down the momentum to weaken the water pressure, prevent spray. Reference numeral 45 denotes a water supply port located at the tip of the water supply nozzle 44, and the water supply port 45 is a wide opening extending in the width direction of the inclined chute 43 (see fig. 4B). For example, when the width dimension of inclined chute 43 is 120mm, the width dimension of water supply port 45 is preferably substantially equal to 100 mm. Reference numeral 46 denotes a water supply pipe, reference numeral 47 denotes a joint connecting the water supply pipe 46 and the water supply nozzle 44, and water can be supplied to the water supply nozzle 44 via the water supply pipe 46 and the joint 47 by a pump or the like, not shown.

Next, the operation of the wash-free grain manufacturing apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described. Polished rice as a raw material supplied from the raw material supply chute 50 is quantitatively supplied to the rice grain charging hopper 42 through the rotary valve 51 as the grain supply device 4. Then, the rice grains reach the grain loading hopper 42 from the passage 52, and are loaded into the mashing cylinder 7 in an aligned state from the tangential direction of the outer peripheral edge 7g in the grain loading hopper 42 through the inclined chute 43 provided in the hopper. At this time, water is added through a water supply nozzle 44 fixedly provided at a lower end portion of the inclined chute 43, for example, at 10 to 20 wt% with respect to polished rice.

Since the water is added from the water supply nozzle 44 while the rice grains fall from the lower end of the inclined chute 43 toward the milling drum 7, the pressure at the time of water addition due to the water addition can be reduced by the downward force of the rice grains, and the splashing can be prevented. Further, since the water supply port 45 at the tip of the water supply nozzle 44 is a wide opening extending over the entire width of the inclined chute 43 in the width direction (see fig. 4B), water can be uniformly and evenly added to all the rice grains flowing down the inclined chute 43, which contributes to improvement in quality.

Then, the rice grains are fed to the mashing cylinder 7 by the grain feeding screw 9 in the top end side 7a of the mashing cylinder, and stirred/mashed by the plurality of stirring blades 10 in the mashing cylinder 7. In the case of polished rice, rice bran produced by polishing diffuses in water and is polished by particle friction in water. The degree of refinement at this time is 0.5 to 2.0% with respect to the rice grains, and thus the aleurone layer on the surface of the rice grains is peeled off. During such stirring/refining, the rice grains are restricted from flowing out of the refining cylinder 7 by a restricting member 12 pivotally supported on the refining shaft 8. The size of the gap between the regulating member 12 and the mashing drum 7 is preferably set to a range of 3 to 15mm, more preferably 5 to 13mm, from which rice grains can flow out.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of fig. 3 taken along line a-a. The regulating member 12 pivotally supported at the front end of the grinding shaft 8 has an outer diameter close to the inner diameter of the grinding cylinder 7 to reduce the gap and regulate the flow of the ground rice from the grinding cylinder 7. Fig. 5 shows an example of the dimensions of the regulating member 12 and the sizing cylinder 7. The regulating member 12 has a disk shape, and the outer diameter of the end surface is 140mm, the inner diameter of the narrowest part of the substantially hexagonal-shaped polishing cylinder 7 is 150mm, and the inner diameter of the widest part of the polishing cylinder 7 is 166 mm. The maximum gap for rice grains to flow out is 13mm and the minimum gap is 5 mm. By forming the gap size in this manner, rice grains can be supplied to the centrifugal dewatering part 5 while being restricted from flowing out of the mashing drum 7.

As a method for feeding rice grains to the next step of rice grains (for example, centrifugal dewatering unit 5) while restricting the outflow of rice grains from the mashing drum 7, there has been a method of bringing a stopper cover into pressure contact with a discharge port as described in paragraph 0006 of jp 5-68896 a and fig. 1. However, in the pressure regulating mechanism for pressing the stopper cover against the discharge port, the stopper cover must be connected to the next step via a receiving hopper as another member, and the machine body has a problem of being large in size.

In contrast, in the present embodiment, when the regulating member 12 is pivotally supported at the distal end portion of the refining shaft 8 and the gap between the refining shaft 7 and the refining shaft is reduced, the refining shaft 7 can be directly connected to the dewatering shaft 18, which has an advantage of downsizing the machine body. Further, since the flow of the polished rice from the mashing drum 7 is regulated by the regulating member 12 and the mashing is performed in water, it is possible to provide a clean-free rice-producing apparatus which is excellent in sanitation and in which the residual attached matter is not easily generated in the mashing drum 7.

Next, the operation will be described. Next, when rice grains are supplied to the dewatering cylinder 18 of the centrifugal dewatering unit 5, the rice grains and water are conveyed in the vertical direction by the rotation (for example, 2000rpm) of the dewatering screw 20 in the centrifugal dewatering unit 5, and at this time, the rice grains and water are separated into rice grains and water containing rice bran and rice starch by the centrifugal force caused by the rotation (for example, 1700rpm) of the dewatering cylinder 18 while being conveyed. The separated water is discharged to the outside of the apparatus through the drain cover 21 and the drain duct 22, and is subjected to a drain treatment by a drain treatment facility (not shown), while the dehydrated rice grains are scraped off from the dehydrating drum 18 by the scraping blades 30 at the lower end of the dehydrating shaft 19 and are transferred to the conditioning/drying section 6 through the down duct 31.

In the conditioning/drying section 6, when rice grains are supplied to the first screen 32 in the vibrating frame 35, the rice grains are conveyed by the vibrating motor 37 while being sequentially rolled toward the first screen 32, the second screen 33, and the third screen 34. Hot air from a hot air supply fan 38 is supplied from below the first screen 32, the second screen 33, and the third screen 34, and rice grains are exposed to the hot air while rolling, thereby performing conditioning and drying. Then, for example, the wash-free rice having a refined water content of about 15% is discharged from the refined product pipe 40.

While the wash-free rice is manufactured as described above, in the present embodiment, the mashing section 3 includes the mashing shaft 8 rotatably supported in the mashing cylinder 7, the grain-feeding screw 9 pivotally supported by the mashing shaft 8, the stirring rotor 11 pivotally supported by the mashing shaft 8 to which the plurality of stirring blades 10 are fixed, and the regulating member 12 pivotally supported by the tip end of the mashing shaft 8 and regulating the flow of the rice grains from the mashing cylinder 7 by reducing the clearance with the inner diameter of the mashing cylinder 7, so that the flow of the rice grains from the mashing cylinder 7 is regulated by the regulating member 12, and the mashing in water is performed while the rice grains are beaten out from the mashing cylinder 7. As a result, the inside of the mashing drum 7 is always filled with the water, and the no-clean grain manufacturing apparatus excellent in sanitation can be provided. Further, the refining section 3 and the centrifugal dewatering section 5 can be directly connected without being connected continuously via a receiving hopper, and therefore the machine body can be made compact.

Further, since the grain charging hopper 42 is disposed on the starting end side 7a of the mashing cylinder of the mashing section 3, the grain charging hopper 42 is used for charging the grains into the grain charging port 41 opened in the mashing cylinder 7, the grain charging hopper 42 is provided with the inclined chute 43, and the lower end of the inclined chute 43 is opened with the wide water supply port 45 having a width dimension substantially equal to the width dimension of the inclined chute 43, the water is supplied from the water supply nozzle 44 while the grains fall down from the lower end of the inclined chute 43 to the mashing cylinder 7, and therefore, the pressure of the water during the water supply is weakened by the momentum of the grains flowing down, and the splash can be prevented.

Next, a clean-free grain manufacturing apparatus that can uniformly supply dry air to grains to manufacture clean-free grains of good quality will be described as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view showing the overall configuration of the wash-free grain production apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view thereof. In fig. 6 and 7, reference numeral 1 denotes the entire wash-free grain manufacturing apparatus, and the main parts include a mashing unit 3 mounted on a frame 2 and mixing and stirring grains (polished rice) with water to perform mashing in the water, a grain supply device 4 supplying the grains to the mashing unit 3, a centrifugal dewatering unit 5 performing centrifugal dewatering of the grains discharged from the mashing unit 3, and a conditioning/drying unit 6 conditioning and drying the grains from the centrifugal dewatering unit 5.

The refining section 3 includes: a tamping shaft 8 rotatably provided in the horizontal cylindrical tamping drum 7; a grain feeding screw 9 pivotally supported on the refining shaft 8; a stirring rotor 11 which fixes a plurality of stirring blades 10 and is pivotally supported on the refining shaft 8; and a restricting member 12 pivotally supported at a tip end portion of the refining shaft 8 and restricting outflow of grains from the refining cylinder 7. A driving pulley 13 for driving rotation is pivotally supported at the rear end of the refining shaft 8, and a motor 14 for driving the driving shaft 8 to rotate is provided above the refining section 3. A transmission belt 16 is wound between the motor pulley 15 of the motor 14 and the drive pulley 13 of the grinding shaft 8, and the rotational force of the motor 14 is transmitted to the grinding shaft 8.

A motor 23 having a plurality of output shafts (preferably, one output shaft has a different rotational speed from the other output shaft) for rotating the dewatering shaft 19 and the dewatering drum 18, respectively, is attached to a side of the centrifugal dewatering unit 5. A driving pulley 24 for driving the rotation of the dewatering shaft 19 is provided at one end of the dewatering shaft 19, and a pulley groove 25 is provided on the circumferential surface of the dewatering drum 18 near the center in the axial direction.

A scraping blade 30 for feeding grains (rice grains) into the conditioning/drying section 6 is pivotally supported at the lower end of the dewatering shaft 19 of the centrifugal dewatering section 5, and the rice grains can be fed into the conditioning/drying section 6 while being dispersed. The centrifugal dewatering section 5 and the conditioning/drying section 6 are connected by a downflow duct 31 having a gentle arc-like longitudinal section, and the centrifugal dewatering section and the conditioning/drying section 6 can send the dehydrated rice grains to the conditioning/drying section 6 while being diffused by the scraping action of the scraping blades 30.

That is, as shown in fig. 8, the scraping blades 30 rotate by the rotation R of the dewatering shaft 19, rice grains are scraped out of the dewatering cylinder 18 from the lower end of the centrifugal dewatering unit 5, and collide with the bent portion of the arc-shaped downflow duct 31 as shown by arrow a. Thereby, the rice grains are dispersed and spread around the inside of the downcomer 31. As shown in fig. 9 and 6, the down duct 31 is formed in a shape expanding downward at its tip, and rice grains fall while spreading in the down duct 31 as shown by the broken line arrow a in fig. 9. The lower end of the down flow duct 31 is connected to the drying section supply chute 68, and rice grains are directly supplied to the starting end side of the conditioning/drying section 6 as indicated by the broken line arrow B.

The conditioning/drying unit 6 includes: a vibrating frame 35 for exposing rice grains to hot air while rolling and having first, second, and

third screens

32, 33, and 34 stretched in this order from the supply side toward the discharge side; an elastic member 36 for supporting the vibration frame 35 to be vibratable with respect to the frame 2; a vibration motor 37 for micro-vibrating the entire vibration frame 35; hot

air supply fans

38a, 38b with heaters built therein; an exhaust duct 39 for exhausting the air passing through the

screens

32, 33, and 34 to the outside of the apparatus; and a refined product discharge pipe 40 for discharging the rice grains after passing through the

screens

32, 33, and 34 and after conditioning and drying to the outside of the apparatus.

The first, second, and

third screens

32, 33, and 34 may be mesh screens, woven screens, or perforated metal screens having a mesh width that does not allow rice grains to pass therethrough but allows dry air to pass therethrough. Further, iron, stainless steel, brass, aluminum, or the like can be suitably used as the material.

The first, second, and

third screens

32, 33, and 34 have steps near their boundaries (see fig. 7, 8, and 10), and a step 63 is provided at each boundary. That is, a first stepped portion 63a is provided at a joint portion between the first mesh 32 and the second mesh 33, and a second stepped portion 63b is provided at a joint portion between the second mesh 33 and the third mesh 34. Since the rice grains are rolled by the stepped

portions

63a and 63b when the rice grains are transferred from the first screen 32 to the second screen 33 and when the rice grains are transferred from the second screen 33 to the third screen, not only one side of the rice grains but also both sides of the rice grains are dried by the drying wind, and there is no fear of uneven drying.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the conditioning/drying section 6. A partition wall 64 is provided in the thermal refining/drying section 6 along the longitudinal direction of the inner cavity of the vibrating frame 35. Two air channels, a first air channel 65a and a second air channel 65b, are formed by the partition wall 64. The two first air tunnel 65a and the second air tunnel 65b are configured to be able to supply drying air under different drying conditions (generated by varying the temperature, the air volume, and the like). The first screen 32 and the second screen 33 are positioned above the first air hole 65a, while the third screen 34 is positioned above the second air hole 65 b. Similarly, baffles 66a, 66b, and 66c for air volume adjustment are provided in the lower portion of the first air tunnel 65a, and baffles 66d, 66e, and 66f for air volume adjustment are provided in the lower portion of the second air tunnel.

The hot air supply fan 38a is connected to the first air tunnel 65a, and the hot air supply fan 38b is connected to the second air tunnel 65b via a communication pipe 67. As a result, rice grains are ejected from the hot air supply fan 38a through the first air hole 65a onto the first screen 32 and the second screen 33 at a high temperature and a large air volume, for example, 60 to 80 ℃ and 80m for primary drying ³ Drying air/min, and discharging the discharged air to the outside of the apparatus through the exhaust duct 39. On the other hand, the grains are ejected from the hot air supply fan 38b to the third screen 34 through the second air tunnel 65b as the grains for secondary drying at a low temperature and a small air volume, for example, a temperature of 30 to 50 ℃ and an air volume of 60m ³ Drying air/min, and discharging the discharged air to the outside of the equipment through an exhaust duct 39. The time for rice grains to pass through the first screen 32 and the second screen 33 in the first air channel 65a is about 15 seconds, and similarly, the time for rice grains to pass through the third screen 34 in the second air channel 65b is also about 15 seconds.

Next, the operation of the wash-free grain manufacturing apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described. Polished rice as a raw material supplied from the raw material supply chute 70 is quantitatively supplied to the rice grain charging hopper 42 through the rotary valve 71 as the grain supply device 4. Then, the rice grains reach the grain loading hopper 42 from the passage 72, and water is added through a water supply nozzle (not shown) fixedly provided in the grain loading hopper 42, for example, at 10 to 20 wt% with respect to the polished rice.

Then, the rice grains are fed to the grinding cylinder 7 side by the grain feeding screw 9 in the grinding cylinder start end side 7a, and are stirred/ground by the plurality of stirring blades 10 in the grinding cylinder 7. In the case of polished rice, rice bran produced by polishing is diffused in water and polished by rubbing with particles in water. The degree of refinement at this time is 0.5 to 2.0% with respect to the rice grains, and thereby the aleurone layer on the surface of the rice grains is peeled off. During the stirring/refining, the rice grains are prevented from flowing out of the refining cylinder 7 by the stopper 12 pivotally supported at the front end of the refining shaft 8. The size of the gap between the regulating member 12 and the mashing drum 7 is preferably set to a range of 3 to 15mm, more preferably 5 to 13mm, from which rice grains can flow out.

By forming the regulating member 12 within the range of the gap size, rice grains can be supplied to the centrifugal dewatering unit 5 while being regulated from flowing out of the mashing cylinder 7.

As a method for feeding rice grains to the next step (for example, the centrifugal dewatering part 5) while restricting the outflow of rice grains from the mashing drum 7, there has been conventionally proposed a method of bringing a flap into pressure contact with a discharge port as described in paragraph 0006 of japanese patent application laid-open No. 5-68896 and fig. 6. However, in the pressure regulating mechanism for pressing the stopper cover against the discharge port, the stopper cover must be connected to the next step via a receiving hopper as another member, and the machine body has a problem of being large in size.

In contrast, in the present embodiment, when the regulating member 12 is pivotally supported at the distal end portion of the refining shaft 8 and the gap between the refining shaft 7 and the refining shaft is reduced, the refining shaft 7 can be directly connected to the dewatering shaft 18, which has an advantage of downsizing the machine body. Further, since the polished rice is finely ground in water while being restricted from flowing out of the fine grinding drum 7 by the restricting member 12, it is possible to provide a clean rice manufacturing apparatus which is excellent in sanitation and in which the residual adhering matter is not easily generated in the fine grinding drum 7.

Then, when rice grains are supplied to the dewatering cylinder 18 of the centrifugal dewatering unit 5, the rice grains and water are transferred downward by the rotation (for example, 2000rpm) of the dewatering screw 20 in the centrifugal dewatering unit 5, and at this time, the rice grains and water are transferred and subjected to the centrifugal force of the rotation (for example, 1700rpm) of the dewatering cylinder 18, and separated into rice grains and water containing rice bran and aleurone on the porous wall portion 17 of the dewatering cylinder 18. The separated water is discharged to the outside of the apparatus through the drain cover 21 and the drain duct 22, and is subjected to a drain treatment by a drain treatment facility (not shown), while the dehydrated rice grains are scraped off from the dehydrating drum 18 by the scraping blades 30 at the lower end of the dehydrating shaft 19 and are transferred to the conditioning/drying section 6 through the down duct 31.

Referring to fig. 8 and 9, the rice grains are scraped from the dewatering cylinder 18 by the rotation of the dewatering shaft 19 (arrow R) and the scraping blade 30 rotates, and then the rice grains collide with the arc portion of the down flow duct 31 (arrow a in fig. 8 and 9), and are scattered and spread around inside the down flow duct 31. Then, the rice grains fall while spreading in the down flow duct 31, fall downward in the drying section supply chute 68 (arrow B in fig. 8 and 9), and are supplied directly to the starting end side of the conditioning/drying section 6.

In the conditioning/drying section 6, the vibration motor 37 attached to the vibration frame 35 vibrates slightly, for example, under the condition that the vibration frame 35 has an amplitude of 3 to 4mm and a motor rotation speed of 1000 to 1200rpm (50HZ/60HZ) as a frequency, and rice grains are sequentially conveyed from the supply side toward the discharge side through the first screen 32, the second screen 33, and the third screen 34.

When rice grains are conveyed on the first screen 32 and the second screen 33, since the hot air supply fan 38a supplies the drying air having a high temperature and a large air volume for primary drying, a large amount of surface adhering water that has not been removed in the centrifugal dewatering unit 5 and has adhered to the surfaces of the rice grains can be dried and removed.

Then, when the rice grains are conveyed on the third screen 34, the drying air having a low temperature and a small air volume for secondary drying is supplied from the hot air supply fan 38b, and therefore, the surface adhering water (i.e., the adhering water is about to disappear) slightly adhering to the surfaces of the rice grains after primary drying can be dried and removed, and therefore, the rise in the grain temperature of the rice grains can be suppressed, and the occurrence of cracks on the surfaces of the rice grains due to excessive drying can be suppressed.

The rice grains having passed through the third screen 34 are discharged from the top-quality pipe 40 to the outside of the machine, and the wash-free rice having a refined water content of about 15% is discharged, for example.

Although the wash-free rice is produced as described above, in the present embodiment, the centrifugal dewatering unit 5 and the conditioning/drying unit 6 are connected via the downflow conduit 31 having a gentle arc-shaped longitudinal section, the scraping blade 30 is pivotally supported at the lower end of the centrifugal dewatering unit 5, and the scraping blade 30 is configured to bring the centrifugally dewatered rice grains into collision with the inner surface of the downflow conduit having the arc-shaped longitudinal section and to feed the rice grains into the conditioning/drying unit 6, so that the rice grains can be scraped from the centrifugal dewatering unit 5 and brought into collision with the arc-shaped bent portion of the inner surface of the downflow conduit 31, and the rice grains scatter and spread around the inside of the downflow conduit 31 and are supplied to the conditioning/drying unit 6. As a result, the rice grains are fed into the conditioning/drying section without being liable to cake, and uniform drying is possible, thereby producing a high-quality non-wash cereal.

Further, the conditioning/drying section 6 includes: a vibrating frame 35 having

screens

32, 33, 34 stretched so as to expose rice grains to hot air while rolling; an elastic member 36 that supports the vibration frame 35 so as to be capable of vibrating with respect to the frame 2; a vibration motor 37 for micro-vibrating the entire vibration frame 35; hot

air supply fans

38a, 38b in which heaters are installed; and a refined product discharge pipe 40 for discharging the rice grains that have passed through the

screens

32, 33, 34 and finished the tempering/drying to the outside of the apparatus. Therefore, since the rice grains are supplied with the drying air while rolling on the screen by the vibrating frame 35, not only one side of the rice grains but also both sides of the rice grains are dried by the drying air, and there is no fear of uneven drying.

Furthermore, the

screens

32, 33, 34 stretched over the vibrating frame 35 are formed by sequentially stretching a plurality of screens from the supply side toward the discharge side of the vibrating frame 35, and the stepped

portions

63a, 63b are provided near the boundaries of the plurality of

screens

32, 33, 34, so that the rice grains can be effectively rolled when transferred from one screen 32 to the other screen 33, and therefore, not only one side of the rice grains but also both sides of the rice grains are dried by the drying wind, and the occurrence of uneven drying is reduced.

A partition wall 64 is provided in the longitudinal direction in the cavity of the vibrating frame 35, two air passages, i.e., a first air passage 65a and a second air passage 65b, are formed by the partition wall 64, and the first mesh 32 and the second mesh 33 are positioned above one of the first air passages 65a, and the third mesh 34 is positioned above the other second air passage 65 b.

Accordingly, when the two

first air tunnels

65a and 65b are configured to be capable of supplying drying air under different drying conditions (generated by different temperatures, air volumes, and the like) to the respective two

air tunnels

65a and 65b, the drying speed can be increased when the rice grains have a large amount of adhering moisture at the initial stage of drying, and the drying speed can be decreased when the rice grains have a small amount of adhering moisture at the final stage of drying, thereby suppressing the rise in the grain temperature of the rice grains and suppressing the occurrence of cracks on the surfaces of the rice grains due to excessive drying.

Further, when the dampers 66a to 66f for air volume adjustment are provided at the lower portion of the first air tunnel 65a and the lower portion of the second air tunnel 65b, respectively, the air volume of the dry air can be adjusted for each of the first air tunnel 65a and the second air tunnel 65 b.

Availability in production

The present invention can be applied to a disposable cereal manufacturing apparatus.

Description of the symbols

1-a wash-free cereal manufacturing apparatus, 2-a frame, 3-a refining section, 4-a grain feeding apparatus, 5-a centrifugal dewatering section, 6-a conditioning/drying section, 7-a refining drum, 8-a refining shaft, 9-a grain feeding screw, 10-a stirring blade, 11-a stirring rotor, 12-a restriction member, 13-a driving pulley, 14-a motor, 15-a motor pulley, 16-a driving belt, 17-a porous wall section, 18-a dewatering drum, 19-a dewatering shaft, 20-a dewatering screw, 21-a drainage cover, 22-a drainage conduit, 23-a motor, 24-a driving pulley, 25-a pulley groove, 26-a first motor pulley, 27-a driving belt, 28-a second motor pulley, 29-a driving belt, 30-a scraping blade, 31-a running-down conduit, 32-a first screen, 33-a second screen, 34-a third screen, 35-a vibrating frame, 36-an elastic member, 37-a vibrating motor, 38-hot air supply fan, 39-exhaust duct, 40-fine product pipe, 41-grain inlet, 42-grain input hopper, 43-inclined chute, 44-water supply nozzle, 45-water supply port, 46-water supply pipe, 47-joint, 50-raw material supply chute, 51-rotary valve, 52-passage, 63-step, 64-partition, 65-air tunnel, 66-baffle, 67-communicating pipe, 68-drying part supply chute, 70-raw material supply chute, 71-rotary valve, 72-passage.

Claims

1. A wash-free grain manufacturing device, comprising: a refining and pounding part which mixes/stirs the grains with water and performs refining and pounding in the water; a centrifugal dehydration part for dehydrating the grain and water supplied from the refining part through a dehydration screw arranged in the dehydration cylinder; and a conditioning/drying unit for refining the grain supplied from the centrifugal dewatering unit into wash-free grain by drying air,

the wash-free grain manufacturing device is characterized in that:

the refining section includes: a tamping shaft rotatably supported in the tamping drum; a grain feeding screw, the pivot of which is supported on the precise tamping shaft; a stirring rotor, which is pivotally supported on the refining shaft and is fixed with a stirring blade; and a restricting member pivotally supported by the mashing shaft and restricting grains from flowing out of the mashing drum,

a grain inlet opening of the mashing cylinder and a grain charging hopper for charging grains into the grain inlet opening are provided on the top end side of the mashing cylinder of the mashing part, the grain charging hopper is provided with an inclined chute for charging grains in an aligned state from a tangential direction of an outer peripheral edge of the mashing cylinder,

the lower end of the inclined chute is fixedly provided with a water supply nozzle.

2. The leave-on grain production apparatus according to claim 1,

the limiting part is a flange-shaped part, and the end edge of the flange-shaped part which is pivoted on the refining shaft reduces the gap with the inner diameter of the refining cylinder to limit the grain flowing out from the refining cylinder.

3. The leave-on grain production apparatus according to claim 1,

the water supply nozzle is formed as a wide opening having a width dimension substantially equal to a width dimension of the inclined chute.